Kidnapping - 80 for 3

CBC.ca largely ignored the recent (May 2014) assassinations of two unarmed Palestinian teenagers, and the killing of a 7-year old child in Gaza this week, but runs articles every hour about 3 kidnapped Israeli youths. So their priorities are starkly evident - killing Palestinian kids is no big deal, but kidnapping Israeli kids is.

The article itself is full of sloppy, if not intentionally misleading wording.

First of all CBC calls the kidnapping of 80 or more Palestinians, most probably without evidence, as "arrests". If the three Israeli kids being removed from their routine lives is a kidnapping, then removing dozens of Palestinians from their families like this is also kidnapping.

A brutal occupying army is terrorizing a captive and helpless population in Palestine. When Israel pulls Palestinians out of their homes and imprisons them without evidence, this is not arresting. This is kidnapping.The power difference between the occupied and the occupier, renders every act by the occupier an abuse. "arrest" sounds legitimate. It does not apply to what Israel does to Palestinians. CBC should call a spade a spade.

CBC loves to quote Israel leaders. These leaders have absolutely no credibility, yet CBC keeps quoting them. Why? Netanyahu says Hamas is guilty of the kidnapping, but offers absolutely no evidence. Is not this lack of evidence, reason enough not to repeat so loudly what Nertanyahu is saying. Does CBC need to run Israel's propaganda machine for Israel??

Hamas has denied responsibility for the kidnapping. But look at the language CBC uses to report this:

Hamas "stopped short of accepting responsibility." No they did not stop short! They DENIED responsibility. There is a world of difference in this wording. CBC is setting itself up as a judge, satisfied with the words of Israeli leaders, and needs no other evidence. Why are the words of Palestinian leaders treated with this weasily wording???

Also, there is a sub-headline:  "Hamas deflects responsibility" - No Hamas denied it. What is this weasily "deflects"  word - it sounds like something that was earned was prevented from reaching its target by being deflected.

Why can't CBC learn English and stop working for Israeli propaganda???

CBC, repeat after me: "Deny means deny. Deny does not mean "deflect". Deny does not mean "stop short". Deny means deny." Is that so hard?

Why no photo?

Pictures are powerful. The picture of the Pope bowing his head against the Apartheid Wall is a powerful, historic, even iconic image. Why did CBC.ca fail to show it?

Sometimes inaction speaks volumes, and this is a case of it. CBC did not publish this photo as part of its routine defense of Israel, and attempt to mislead the Canadian public on behalf of a foreign state.

Pope at the wall

 

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Honours versus Boosts?

This was the headline for the May 26 CBC.ca article on the Pope's Middle East visit.

Pope Francis honours Jewish victims day after boost for Palestinians

Why couldn't CBC say that the Pope was honouring Palestinian suffering and victimhood as well? What does "boosts" mean? It is a feeble, wishy-washy word, and does not carry any of the power of "honouring'. This kind of biased headline is routine for CBC, and is a disgrace.

 
The truly meaningful action of the Pope, which was praying at the illegal Apartheid Wall, was played down by CBC. Instead it made much of the obligatory, routine and thus less-newsworthy visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial. How is the memorial to an event almost 70 years in the past, more important than an action recognizing the ongoing injustice of the Israeli occupation?

CBC always likes to quote Israeli leaders, even when they are spouting propagandistic nonsense, so again in the absence of any similar or contradictory quote from one of his Palestinian victims, they had this quote from Netanyahu:

"I explained to the pope that constructing the fence (separation barrier) prevented many more victims of Palestinian terror, which continues today," Netanyahu said.

So, although CBC is paid for by us Canadians, in the service of Israel, CBC bends over backwards to try to depreciate the action of the Pope's prayer at the Wall by emphasizing that it is a necessary evil (which is a patent untruth). It would be nice if CBC could dedicate itself more honestly to serving the information needs of Canadians who pay the bills, than serving the propaganda needs of this foreign country, Israel.

Missing in Action

There were two major stories covered by US major media and BBC but not even mentioned on CBC.ca

On May 25th, Pope Francis stopped on his way through Bethlehem to pray beside the Israeli-built wall that bisects the city. This was a subtle criticism of Israel's building of this travesty. It warranted international and CBC attention.

A few days earlier films were taken of Israeli soldiers intentionally shooting to death two unarmed, unthreatening Palestinian teenagers. This is not unusual, but it is usually not caught on film. This is proof of Israel's brutality to the occupied people of Palestine, and warranted media attention.

Why did CBC not think these two events were news-worthy? Is it fear of offending Canada's disgusting Prime Minister who blesses Israel repeatedly, regardless of how disgusting their behaviour.

Speaking of Crimes?

CBC.ca had an article on April 27th which reported that Mahmud Abbas said publicly that the Holocaust was the worst crime against humanity.

It also reported Netanyahu's response to this statement. He said Hamas, Abbas's partner in their new unity government, wants to commit a second Holocaust by destroying Israel.

Speaking of crimes, how about the Nakba? No one has to say it is the worst crime against humanity, but who can deny that a major crime against humanity was committed when the Palestinians were driven off their land? Also the brutal occupation of Palestine which has persisted for almost 50 years is a serious crime. 

In this context of Israel-Palestine, when speaking of crimes against humanity, does it really make sense to completely  ignore the lesser, but very serious and ongoing crime of the Nakba?

Perhaps CBC might have at least hinted that, speaking of crimes, some mention should have been made about the Nakba. Perhaps CBC might have noted that Netanyahu was being rather ungenerous and ungrateful when his only response was to make questionable claims about another Holocaust. 

Hamas may not want to have an Israeli entity sitting on their land and dictating and abusing Palestinians, but that does not come even close to meaning they want to commit a Holocaust against Jews. Netanyahu's claims are spurious and unproductive and perhaps, instead of just repeating them and echoing them, CBC could have pointed our this reality.

CBC News Priorities

There is very limited space in the CBC online news website for World News, so they show their priorities and prejudices by which articles they chose to include.
 
Over the past month there have been a variety of atrocities committed by Israel soldiers against Palestinians that have not been covered. One teenage stone-thrower was shot in the back as he ran away; another unarmed man was shot in the head as he moved too close to the Gaza border while working his farmland; and one of the most news-worthy unreported events is the recent willful crippling of two players on the Palestinian National Football Team at an Israeli checkpoint. The Israeli soldiers shot several bullets into their legs with an obvious intention to remove them forever from the soccer field. This matter is now being taken up by FIFA, which, if it has any integrity, will remove the Israeli team from the international playing field.
 
CBC did not think any of this was worth reporting; however these two articles appeared about 2 weeks apart:
 

Dozens of Anne Frank books vandalized in Tokyo

Israel donates Anne Frank books to Tokyo libraries

 
It is terrible that these books were vandalized, but how is that more news-worthy than crippling soccer players in order to destroy a national team?
 
I have lived in Japan over 12 years and anti-Semitism is a non-issue there. Who did this vandalism? Who knows, but I cannot imagine that it was done by a Japanese poerson? The obvious question is - Qui Bono? Who benefits? And the painful answer is only Zionists benefit. Highlighting acts of anti-Semitism, even if they have to do them themselves, is useful strategy for those who want to make Israel and Jews the perrenial "victims".
 
And isn't it convenient for the Zionists when a petty incident like damaging library books, in a far away place like Tokyo, gets such high priority coverage in CBC?

Piracy is Good if it is Israeli

Israel: Naval raid seizes Gaza-bound Iranian arms

 
Why is the above news story worthy of mention? Why did the story not mention the fact that it was an act of piracy on the high seas? Why does the article take the claims of the Israeli Government at face value? Since when is this a credible source?
 
Where is the journalistic integrity in CBC? There is no proof that these weapons were bound for Gaza other than Israeli claims. This headline is typical of warmongering propaganda.  Make Israel look threatened, and make Iran and the Gaza people the villains. This is so far from any objective reality, it is criminally misleading. Why is CBC in the business of warmongering propaganda?
 
Israel is one of the world's top four exporters of military equipment (pver 7 billion dollars per year). At any given moment millions of dollars of Israel-made weapons (proudly tested in advance on defenceless Palestinians) are on ships at sea en route to foreign militaries that often use them against defenceless civilians. Why does CBC not make this a headline news item?
 
No, anything to make Iran look bad is news for CBC, even if it is not credible - like PM Harper's lies about Iran having stated a desire to actually use nuclear weapons, and stories like this one where the only source is the war-promoting Government of Israel.
 
Canadians who pay the cost of CBC deserve better than this.